Critical Thinking

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper is to identify how critical thinking skills contribute to confident, quality decisions, how critical thinking assisted me in my decision to become an occupation therapist as well as in my choice to attend the University of ------------. According to Michael Scriven and Richard Paul in their work Defining Critical Thinking , critical thinking is defined as the “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Multiple benefits are gained by using critical thinking methodology such as an increase in choice accuracy, a boost in confidence, and so on. Therefore, many professionals believe that a critical thinking curriculum should be injected into schools systems at multiple levels.

Critical thinking defined

Critical thinkers proactively attempt to understand the purpose at hand and the question at issue. They try to question information, conclusions, and points of view. The goal is to be clear, precise, relevant, logical, and fair. These skills apply to all areas of communication and study in professional and personal lives all in an effort to contribute to better quality decisions. In a guide entitled Critical Thinking: An Introduction, Alec Fisher explains that critical thinking is “a skillful activity, which may be done more or less well, and good critical thinking will meet various intellectual standards, like those of clarity, relevance, adequacy, coherence and so on.” Unfortunately, much of our thinking is distorted, partial, and uninformed. Yet these decisions determine the quality of our lives, our health, and the well being of others. As stated by Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder in a guide entitled The Miniature Guide to Critical